PERRspectives: What the health care debate was really about.

Progressive Blog Digest: Will have a ton of links- pro and con -on last night's vote

Blue Gal: Shorter President's Executive Order on Abortion

Demeur: Republican reaction to passage of HCR

Cartoon News: Cartoonist finds nothing funny about tea bag mob

The Bobblespeak Translations: This Week -March 21, 2010

Violence is contagious.

This Kentucky weirdo should be checked out very carefully.

A Kentucky woman has threatened a Michigan newspaper with a bloodbath similar to the massacre at Ft. Hood if they don't lay off criticism of the District 6 congresswoman.

Weird. We always thought Michele was a pro-life kinda gal. But on with the story, which begins with an editorial in the Port Huron Times Herald. It lambastes Bachmann as a "a hate-spewing, right-wing legislator from Minnesota."

Rally participants carried a variety of disturbing signs. One placard had a health care message superimposed over dead bodies from Holocaust concentration camps. One referred to President Barack Obama as "Sambo." One depicted the president as the evil "Joker" from Batman movies. One referred to "Obama and his Marxist buddies."At one point, the crowd chanted "Nazi, Nazi."

The unidentified Kentucky woman was having none of that, and according to Editor and Publisher, she put in a call to the Gannett customer service center in Louisville, Ky., threatening to arm herself and "do what they did at Fort Hood." (Gannett owns the Times Herald.)

Gannett gave a copy of the recording to Kentucky authorities, who paid the woman a visit last week. No charges have yet been filed in the case.

It's at the point where threats of bloodbaths and sicko murder fantasies like this should be a crime already. Oh, I forgot, the FRC will say it's denying their preachers the right to express themselves. My bad.

From the wonderful artist Zina Saunders (click here for larger):

"Double, double, toil and trouble," chant Michele Bachmann, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh as they stir up the pot against health care reform.

A few incantations from the trio's trick or treat bag: Congresswoman Bachmann says sex clinics will result from Health Care Reform, Ann Coulter says Obama's plan encourages assisted suicide for the elderly, and Rush Limbaugh says Obama's health care plan is right out of Hitler's playbook.

Boo!

Open thread below and John Amato has a World Series thread going as well...

There was an article in The Hill the other day about Rep. Jane Harman's plight:

Tangled in wiretap, opposed by left, Harman could face tough primary

Anti-war forces and liberal bloggers have despised Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) for years, and now they smell blood in the water.

Harman has taken plenty of heat from her left flank over the years for supporting the Iraq war and President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. And now that she’s in some political trouble for allegedly offering favors on a federal wiretap, her detractors might just have the ammo they need.

Already, 2006 primary opponent Marcy Winograd has opened an exploratory committee and others are also making their interest known. Plus, bloggers are talking about recruiting one of the their own to challenge Harman.

Experts say the congresswoman looks OK right now, but the situation remains fluid.

That is all pretty much correct, but then Aaron Blake had a bit of other news in the story.

Howie Klein, the Southern California-based author of the DownWithTyranny blog, said the new revelations could help change that.

“When Marcy ran the first time, it was a really tough road for her, because people didn’t understand,” Klein said. “Even on a really great website like Daily Kos, there were a lot of people that didn’t understand.”

Klein said a group of bloggers met earlier this year to discuss challenging Harman in a primary, weeks before the recent revelations. He said many in the blogging community would like a fellow blogger, John Amato, to challenge Harman and that Amato is considering it.

I wanted to confirm to my readers that I am considering running for Jane Harman's seat. I've had meetings with bloggers and activists way before this story broke and they have urged me on. I've also been contacted by established campaign managers who have won elections which included huge upsets in the past that have expressed a serious interest in managing my campaign. This is a very important step in the process. At this point I am considering it, but haven't made a decision yet. I'm going to take my time before I decide, but I thought I owed it to you to confirm this report.

Now back to our regularly scheduled content.

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I guess veterans are the right wing's new favorite sacred cow. Having discovered, via the phony DHS domestic-terrorism controversy, that they can gleefully club liberals over the head with anything even remotely resembling a slight to the sacred honor of American veterans -- such slights, evidently, including insufficiently abject prostration -- Republicans are now wielding said club at every available opportunity.

Let's face it: the Right really hates that the folks in the military in fact love President Obama. And so propagating the notion that Democrats are "anti-military" is a big deal right now.

Last week, for instance, as the new federal hate-crimes bill was passing out of the House Judiciary Committee, Republican Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida tried to include veterans in the list of protections.

This was a classic right-wing twofer: Work to undermine the hate-crimes bill, and smear Democrats at the same time! Pretty, clever, eh?

Sure enough, after Glenn Beck coughed this one up Friday night, there was Sean Hannity last night, regurgitating Beck's stale hairball:

Hannity: Now, Congresswoman, including our soldiers in this bill would not belittle anybody. And I think you and Janet Napolitano need to revisit your opinion of our veterans.

Actually, Feeney's proposal would render the legislation moot and unconstitutional, because it would then be predicated on the idea of creating "protected classes." And, as has been already explained many times, hate-crimes bills aren't about creating "protected categories" -- they are strictly written to encompass the motives of the perpetrator:

Continue reading »

A Poetic Justice pays tribute to Congresswoman Tubbs Jones...

Mock, Paper, Scissors: Reason for running.

Beggars can be Choosers: Trust me, this is nuthin' compared to what Biden has up his sleeve, my friend.

Hot Chicks with Douchebags***: Is Michael Phelps a Douche? (and OMG there's a book?!?) ***Note: this site is not about the GOP presumptive nominee, his spouse or lobbyist "acquaintances."

Guest hosted by Blue Gal, who has posted an actual photo of David Plouffe. Geez, before Mr. Plouffe came along, I thought Nigerian royals in need of urgent banking help sent a lot of email...

f-brilliant:

KKOB Radio afternoon drive time news anchor Laura MacCallum quit her job last Thursday after the station’s news director pulled her stories about alleged vote-buying efforts at the recent Bernalillo County Republican Party delegate nominating conventions.

MacCallum, a 32-year radio and TV news veteran who has worked in Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, said the station caved to complaints from Congresswoman Heather Wilson’s Senate campaign about the stories. Wilson campaign spokeswoman Whitney Cheshire called the station to argue the unfairness of stories alleging that many delegates to the ward conventions were paid by Wilson’s and other campaigns to show up and cast their votes for certain delegates.

Critics of the alleged vote-buying effort say it was an unfair scheme to lock out any challengers to Wilson’s senate and Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White’s congressional campaigns

KKOB News Director Pat Allen said the stories were pulled, not because of the campaign’s complaints, but because he felt they lacked corroboration and that a source in some of MacCallum’s stories, former New Mexico Governor Dave Cargo, was bitter because he wasn’t elected as a delegate to the upcoming state Republican Party nominating convention.

But here's the best part: one of the reasons cited by the station manager for not running the story is because it "would have been picked up by bloggers" and other news agencies if it was valid.

We know that Heather Wilson has been guilty of placing pressure on the US Attorney's office in the past, it's certainly within her character to try to squelch a story like this, which could cost her her seat.

This literally makes me so angry that my hands are shaking as I type this. For all the rhetoric that gets spun out in the media that the anti-war movement is hurting the troops, here is very real, very tangible proof that the troops ARE being hurt. But not by those of us who want them out of harm's way. No, they're being hurt by those who decided to send them there.

Bob Geiger:

A study completed in late June by the Pentagon's Inspector General concludes that the Department of Defense (DoD) has risked the lives of U.S. troops in Iraq due to malfeasance in awarding and monitoring contracts for badly-needed armored vehicles.

The study, which was requested by Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York, found that since 2000 the DoD has awarded "sole-source" contracts valued at $2.2 billion to just two companies, Force Protection, Inc.(FPI) and Armor Holdings, Inc (AHI).

Inspector General auditors found that the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) made these two companies the sole providers of armored vehicles and armor kits for troops, despite knowing that other suppliers may have produced the equipment so desperately needed in Iraq substantially faster. Both manufacturers fell far behind delivery schedules, while AHI also produced inadequate and faulty equipment.

Rep. Louise Slaughter has really been at the forefront of demanding answers. Please give her some props for her hard work and commitment.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) just couldn't keep her hands off President Bush last night.

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From ABC 5 Minneapolis:

Newly-elected Congresswoman Michele Bachmann got quite a bit of face time with President Bush after his State of the Union Speech Tuesday night.

While the President was signing autographs for members of Congress after the speech, the sixth-district Republican put her hand on Bush's shoulder. However, it wasn't just a tap. After he signed an autograph for her, Bachmann grabbed the president and did not let go for almost 30 seconds.

After signing the autograph for Bachmann, the president turns away, but Bachmann doesn't let go. In fact, the video shows her reaching out to get a better grip on him.

Bush then leans over to kiss another congresswoman, but Bachmann is still holding on. Bachmann then gets more attention, a kiss and an embrace from the president. A few seconds later, Bachmann's hand finally comes off the presidential shoulder.

Bachmann has quite a thing for Bush, apparently. This press release from her campaigning days reads more like a diary entry for a 12 year old who got to meet her Tiger Beat teen idol:

I have never been in the Presidential limousine before so I was a little unsure what to do when the limousine stopped at the custard stand. I wasn't sure if I should exit with the President or get out of my side of the car. Karl Rove told me I would exit out the door on my side after The President steps out and someone would open the door for me. I could not believe I was discussing what flavor of custard to order with the President of the United States!

The San Francisco Chronicle is doing their annual "Year in Pictures" feature.

C&Ler Hugh J. found this one and sent it to me. I admit it, I'm gonna miss all the fun stories that good ole Kathy "3/4 Pose" Harris provided.

I shall call you Chad: Congresswoman and U.S. Senate hopeful Katherine Harris dangles a possum she bought for $400 at the Wausau Possum Festival, all but locking up Florida's pro-possum vote. She also ate possum at the festival, which had to be disturbing to her new pet.
The Chron caption is pretty funny, but I know that the C&Lers can do better. Have fun.